Mini Biogas Digester

We’re going to Mars soon, so why not bring a mini biogas digester? My design will help astronauts to grow plants since it will produce fertilizer and power the plants’ lights. The cube container has snap fit lids on its front/top side. The top of it has 2 circular lids: 1 large and small. The smaller lid is opened so a tube connected to a generator can be placed in its hole. The larger lid is used to dump waste- food and/or human- into the container. Once the waste is dumped, anaerobic bacteria will decompose it into biogas, in particular, methane. The biogas will rush out of the container, through the tube, and into a generator so it may be converted into electricity. That energy will be able to power the lights of any plants being grown. Once all the biogas is used, whatever is left in the digester can be used as fertilizer for the plants (open side lid). This design would be extremely useful for astronauts because energy and fertilizer rich in nutrients are produced for the plants.

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